Abstract
Nearly all children and adolescents play video games, with up to 99 % of boys and 94 % of girls in the United States doing so. Research into the effects of video games has almost exclusively focused on negative effects (e.g. aggression and addiction). However, a full understanding of the impact of video games requires this research to be supplemented with research into the benefits of playing video games. This is particularly important since video games have diversified in the last decade and now include more realistic, complex and social game content. In this article we aim to summarize the emerging body of research on the benefits of playing video games. We focus on four domains in which benefits may occur: cognitive, motivational, emotional, and social. Possible mechanisms are discussed that may underlie the generalization of positive effects of video games on real-world benefits. Our aim is to inspire new research into the potentially positive effects of video games on mental health and we call on intervention researchers and practitioners to put these effects to the test.
